Tom DeLay's Washington

If you want to understand how Tom DeLay's Washington really works, read here and here.

Excerpts, from the NYT:

"One e-mail message from Mr. Abramoff directed his assistant to "pump up Scanlon," a reference to padding their billable hours for the Choctaws to meet an artificial $150,000 monthly target that the tribe testified it had never agreed to.

In 2001 alone, the Choctaws paid $7.7 million to Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon for lobbying work. But the pair spent just $1.2 million on the designated projects, keeping the remaining $6.5 million for "gimme five" - themselves - according to the e-mail and witnesses.

The tribe ultimately paid Mr. Scanlon as much as $15 million, and he gave Mr. Abramoff $5 million in kickbacks, said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and the chairman of the Senate committee."

And the WP:

"The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent. Only a few other businesses have enjoyed greater prosperity in an otherwise fitful economy."